


A Moment You Can Hold

by Summerunderthesea



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Card Games, Fluff, Gen, Kid Fic, M/M, Magical Allura, POV Keith (Voltron), for now, pov allura
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-18
Updated: 2017-07-18
Packaged: 2018-12-03 18:47:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11538270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Summerunderthesea/pseuds/Summerunderthesea
Summary: When a mission of Keith's is interrupted by a Galran child, Red ends up making a difficult decision for him. Until Allura can find a solution, Keith is forced to take on more responsibility than ever.Meanwhile, Allura is feeling cruhed under the weight of her own responsibilities, and is doing everything she can to stay afloat.





	A Moment You Can Hold

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this story floating around in my head ever since I first watched Voltron in January, but its taken me this long to finally start to work on it. I'm trying to churn it out pretty quickly because I'm desperate to get it out before August 4th, when the story will no longer be canon, but we'll see how I go with that.  
> Quick trigger warning: there is a bit more of a focus on food and eating/swallowing than you might see in other fics (though not a huge amount), so I just want anyone who might find that upsetting to be aware. Feel free to ask me if you have any concerns!  
> Fic named for a lyric of 'Our Song' by Kate Miller-Heidke.

_~{K}~_ **  
**

Keith had always loved the idea of explosions.

When he was younger his Dad had used to put on action movies for them to watch together, allowing Keith rare moments in which he could vanish, entirely absorbed into a new world. His father never seemed to really enjoy the movies, but instead used them as a learning opportunity. ‘What did they do wrong?’ he would ask Keith, or, ‘what should they have done better?’

But when any explosions occurred on-screen Keith became captivated, totally mesmerised by the expansion of light, the blurring of sounds. While he watched smoke on the screen he could feel it in his lungs, and hear a ringing in his ears. He would wait with bated breath for the hero to emerge from the flames, feeling as though he, too, was in the midst of everything.

Keith didn't think he had a particularly unrealistic, or glamorous, idea of what being a real-life action hero would be like. He had known pain before, known exhaustion and hunger and a sense of failure. But somehow, right until they had seen their first explosion, he had still thought it would be somewhat like the movies. But nothing could prepare him for those moments in which he completely surrendered control, flung across a room by some unimaginable force, entirely unsure if he would survive the blast.

Keith still loved explosions.

But this time, the stakes were even higher. If the hastily created bomb Keith had just planted worked, he could take out hundreds of Galra living nearby. If it didn't, the very same Galra would initiate an attack in only a few hours, one which Voltron couldn't possibly prevent while Lance was in a healing pod, recovering from several broken bones.

_Focus,_ Keith reminded himself, returning his attention to the activation of the bomb.

Now, Keith had exactly one minute to get as far away as possible. They couldn't risk any longer when the Galra sentries were due so soon.

He ran towards Red, arriving back to his seat as quickly as possible. He smirked, just a bit, when he saw that he still had fifty seconds remaining. Escape should be easy now.

Except that, just as he was preparing to take off, he spotted a Galra child, wandering dangerously closely to the bomb.

_Quiznak._

If he didn't spend at least 30 seconds speeding away from the planet, he would be unable to survive the damage. 40 seconds would allow enough distance to prevent major injury. Which meant that he would have - he checked his screen - seven seconds to rescue the child.

It couldn’t be done. Keith knew that, knew that the risk wasn't worth taking. But still, she was only a child. He felt a flicker of uncertainty, and that moment of indecisiveness, small though it was, was enough to spur Red into action.

She sped over to the child, and Keith saw that they were down to 42 seconds. She opened her mouth, and there were 39 seconds left. Gripping tightly to the child, she took off with only 37 seconds remaining.

As a burst of fire filled the atmosphere of the planet below him, Keith could only hope they had escaped quickly enough.

 

_~{K}~_

The first thing Keith saw when he fell out of the healing pod was Lance, who was wearing a look of concern on his face. His hair was slightly messed up, and he had what looked to be a grease stain on one cheek, and Keith swallowed thickly. If Lance had had enough time to get out of the healing pod, and do whatever it was that had made him look slightly shabby, Keith must have been in the healing pod overnight, at the very least. Which would mean that he had been pretty badly injured.

The second thing Keith noticed, probably only a fraction of a second later, was the young Galran squirming in Lance’s arms.

_‘Keith!’_ Hunk exclaimed, wrapping him up into a mildly uncomfortable embrace. Keith grimaced.

‘Hey, Hunk,’ he returned. As Hunk loosened his grip, Keith looked around the room. The whole team was there to greet him. Hunk, Shiro and Lance all looked somewhat anxious, while Pidge was staring at the baby with fascination. Allura was also in the room, slightly distances from the others, with an expression that Keith couldn't distinguish. Coran, industrious as ever, was walking towards Keith's healing pod with a handful of cleaning items.

‘Do you feel alright?’ Shiro asked worriedly, and Keith realised that everyone was in the room to greet him. He must have been badly injured, if they were all waiting for him. He automatically looked down to his wrist, forgetting that the last time he had worn a watch felt like lifetimes ago now. ‘It's about nine in the morning,’ Shiro continued, understanding Lance’s train of thought.  

Nine o’clock. Keith did the maths in his head. He had been out for at least eleven hours.

‘I'm fine,’ he assured them all. ‘But, ah-- what's with the kid?’

‘That's something we were hoping to ask you,’ Allura replied.

_Oh._ The child. His moment of indecision. Red, moving towards the bomb.

‘Is Red okay?’ he had to ask.

Shiro smiled. ‘She’s fine. The others gave her a quick check up but there doesn't seem to be any damage caused by, uh, rescuing the child.’ His voice trailed off at the end of the sentence.

‘She was right by the bomb,’ Keith explained sheepishly. I didn't even see her until too late.’ He couldn't help but wonder why she had been there. Had there been any other children in the planet, destroyed by Keith's bomb?

‘We found records of a high-ranking Galran visiting the planet to see everyone up. Apparently, he bought his child with him,’ Pidge explained.

‘Oh.’ There was a lengthy pause. ‘So, umm,’ Keith began. What was he even meant to ask? ‘What are we going to do… with, umm, it?’

Shiro grimaced. ‘Allura’s trying to find an ally that is willing to take them in. But we don't have high hopes, since she’s, well… you know.’

_Galran._ The word hung in the air. Allura had forgiven him for being only half-human, but it was certainly something they'd tiptoed around.

‘Hey guys?’ Lance called out, almost awkwardly. ‘I think I should put them down now.’ He lowered the writhing child to the ground even as he finished the sentence.

They all watched as the child wobbled towards Keith, then held up their arms, like they wanted a high five or something. Keith stared.

‘Keith, they want you to pick them up’ Lance explained, far too impatiently for Keith’s liking. They hadn't all grown up surrounded by babies, after all.

Keith reached down cautiously and picked up the kid by their armpits, then adjusted them so they were resting on his hips. They looked up at his face, too focussed for Keith’s comfort. They had large purple eyes, and they held Keith’s attention so forcefully that he felt like he was being hypnotised. He forced himself to look away.

‘How old are they?’ he asked.

‘She,’ supplied Coran, ‘is somewhere between two and four human years old.’

The age seemed oddly vague by Coran’s standards. ‘You can't tell?’

‘Galran children don't age like human children do. In some ways, such as her motor skills, the child is developmentally similar to a two-year-old human, but then her language skills, for instance, should be like that of a four-year-old.’

Keith tried to match that to what he'd observed of the child, but he didn't think he’d seen her talk yet.

‘What’s your name?’ he asked her, feeling silly. He hadn't used a baby voice, because that just seemed patronising, but using his normal voice had felt like an even worse decision.

The child didn't respond.

‘She hasn't talked at all so far,’ Lance explained.

Oh, good. Another complication.

‘What do we call her then?’

‘I was thinking Leia,’ Lance supplied eagerly.

Keith groaned. ‘Of course you would, it's so obvious.’

‘Hey!’ Lance whined. He turned to the child ‘Do you like Leia?’ he asked. Keith took note of the voice he had used, which wasn't quite babyish, but was certainly much sweeter than usual.

She responded with silence.

‘What about Carrie?’ Hunk suggested. Still no response.

Seeing the trend, Keith went next. ‘Daisy?’, he asked.

The baby sneezed.

‘Looks like you lose, Lance,’ Pidge smirked.

Lance shrugged. ‘Daisy works for me.’

Suddenly, Allura cleared her throat, and all heads turned towards her. Keith felt like a child who had just been caught giving a name to a stray cat, one which they would absolutely, under no circumstances, be allowed to keep.

‘I’ll find somewhere to take the child in as soon as possible,’ she said. ‘In the meantime, though, you’ll have to take care of her.’

‘No problemo’ replied Lance, even though Keith could see several potential problems.

‘Shiro, perhaps you should properly debrief Keith now?’ Allura suggested. Then she strode away. The others followed, leaving Keith alone to explain the mission to Shiro.

 

_~{A}~_

Allura could feel it within her, the sensation of its humming light but overwhelming due to its constant presence. She’d been trying to suppress it, but ever since Red had returned with a Galran child between her jaws it had become much more insistent.

This wasn't Keith, who deep down she knew to be a good person, whose presence preceded her newfound powers. This was just another Galran, a child, perhaps, but still a member of Zarkon’s species.

How long had it been, since she had woken up? A month, perhaps? She couldn't imagine being any longer.

Just one month, since she saw fleet after fleet of Zarkon’s army circling Altea, while her citizens bravely prepared to fight. Still strong in her mind was the memory of one boy, no older than ten, tightly gripping a laser gun that was far too big for his body, a determined expression on her face.

Only a month since her father had taken her and Coran to the Castle of the Lions, and bid them both farewell with a kiss to the cheek. Even then she had held back her tears, so her father could remain strong. He needed his strength, in order to face his biggest challenge yet.

And then she had blinked.

And only a month ago, she had fallen into the arms of a strange boy, who was certainly no Altean.

And her planet had been destroyed. And her father was dead.

Just one month since the Galrans had destroyed everything and everyone she had loved, and she was supposed to trust them? To believe that there were Galrans who could help her, to forgive Keith his heritage, and now, reign in her magic as it urged her to take out her rage on the Galran sleeping on their ship. The same ship Zarkon had desperately trying to destroy?

A knock sounded from behind her, breaking her from her reverie.

‘Princess?’

Allura tensed, still facing forwards as Coran joined her on the bench. They were facing a large window, with a view of the stars that she would have once found calming. ‘Oh, Coran. I was wondering when you would find me.’

‘What are you thinking about?’ He asked.

‘Just considering what to do with the Gal- with Daisy, of course.’

Coran hesitated, perhaps hearing something in her voice. He was too perceptive for his own good.

‘Princess, would you like to hear my opinion as a friend, or as an advisor?’ An old question.

‘An advisor,’ Allura replied, an answer just as old.

Coran did not try to hide his disappointment. ‘Then I suggest you contact the Balmerans. The majority of them are kind and gentle, and they feel indebted to us.’ His voice softened. ‘Speaking of forgiveness may help bring peace to the universe, Princess. But only if you mean it.’

Then Coran left, and Allura was left behind, feeling like she had just been scolded. Like when she was younger, and had snuck outside of the Castle when she was meant to be in bed.

_I’m trying,_ she thought. _Can't he see that?_

Almost immediately there was another knock on the door, a second ‘Princess?’. But this one was more tentative.

She turned around. ‘Yes, Shiro?’

‘I just wanted to let you know that I’m happy to help.’ Shiro paused, and Allura could see he was weighing up whether or not he should continue. She hoped that he wouldn't. ‘I know it must be really hard for you.’

He spoke so kindly, and Allura felt something within her break. Just a tiny hairline fracture, though, something she could easily will away if she tried hard enough.

‘Right now, I'm managing everything quite well, thank you. But I'll let you know if I need anything.’ she replied. Her voice was frosted glass.

It was a clear dismissal, and thankfully Shiro began to walk away. But right before the door he stopped.

‘When I travelled with Matt and his father, small things would go wrong all the time.’

Allura’s smile was brittle. Was he implying she was getting worked up over something small?

‘Human technology isn't nearly as good as the Altean stuff, you know? So sometimes the computer would give us error alerts when nothing seemed wrong, or something else would malfunction, or one of us would just be having a bad day for no real reason. So Matt would get his iPod, and he'd put on the worst playlist up as loud as possible. And we’d all dance.’

Oh. Shiro was giving her a suggestion.

But Allura had always hated dancing. She remembered her governess trying to teach her how, starting when she was about eight. She had always been able to execute the moves well enough. But it was so dull. She just wanted to go to the training room.

When she was about ten, she had begun to disappear whenever there was to be a dancing lesson, so her governess had become more creative, surprising her with a lesson when she was supposed to be having a diplomacy lesson, or on her way to a meal, or once, in the middle of the night.

It was important to learn dancing for royal occasions, such as a visit from a King from another planet. So Allura understood why her governess had forced it down her throat. But she would never enjoy dancing.

Still, she moulded her smile into something which was soft. ‘Thank you,’ she said.

‘Any time. And I mean it, if you ever need anything…’ his voice trailed off, and finally he turned to leave.

_I’m here._ That was the end of the sentence. Shiro would be here to help whenever she needed him.

_But what if I'm not here,_ she thought. What if she was millions of light years away, stifling a giggle as she hid in a kitchen cupboard, while her governess walked past, promising that she could skip her dancing lesson if she only came out of hiding.

‘ _I’m right here’_ she would say, jumping out of the cupboard, and they would both laugh merrily and walk down the hallway for her lessons with Coran.

 

_~{K}~_

It appeared that Daisy had a particular preference for Keith. This had become clear almost immediately, when Keith had walked to the kitchen after his short debriefing to find Hunk holding the screaming child, trying desperately to get her to settle. Keith had seen exactly zero toddlers in his life, and would normally avoid being anywhere near one, but when he caught the look of absolute distress on Hunk’s face, Keith figured that maybe he could be of some help.

Daisy had cheered up almost immediately, and now, hours later, Keith still found himself taking care of her in the common room, seated comfortably on the couch.

‘What sound does a dolphin make?’ he was asking, still playing a game that had become tired probably half an hour ago.

Daisy looked back at him blankly, still stubbornly refusing to speak.

‘Does it go-’ Keith asked, then did his best interpretation of a barking dog.

Daisy smiled and shook her head.

‘What about-’ this time he did a rooster impression, and Daisy seemed to stifle a giggle.

‘No? Well does it go-’ this time he made the correct sound, and was rewarded with a nod from Daisy.

‘Can you do that too?’ he asked. He had done this every time, but never gotten a response.

_Great._ Time to think of a new animal again.

‘What sound does a mouse make?’ Keith tried. He entertained Daisy with mooing, quacking, and growling before providing her with the correct response.

‘Can you go-’ Keith asked, making the ‘ee-ee-ee’ sound of a mouse.

Daisy hesitated, her face scrunched up with concentration, then, in the smallest voice Keith had ever heard, went ‘ee-ee-ee’ too.

Keith inhaled dramatically, half to entertain Daisy and half because he had been caught by surprise, and said ‘woooow’. If Keith could get her talking, taking care of her may be much easier in the future.

‘Can you make a cat sound?’ Keith asked hopefully, providing her with an example. She looked up at Keith with those ridiculously mesmerising eyes of hers while he waited expectantly. After a few seconds, he tried again.

When Daisy didn’t reply, Keith repeated his mouse sound. She seemed to hesitate, but didn’t make another sound. ‘Please, Daisy, please’ he pleaded, but he received no response. And her face was a little red and her eyes a little watery, so he thought it was time for him to stop. He wouldn’t forgive himself if he made Daisy cry.

He just didn’t understand. He knew she could at least understand animal names, and answer yes or no questions. But she wouldn’t speak, even though Coran had insisted that she should be able to. Most likely, she was too traumatised to speak, or else suffering from some kind of disorder, but how could Keith know? How much else did she have hidden inside her?

‘Daisy,’ he tried. ‘Can you hold up one finger for me?’ She looked at him doubtfully, but followed his instructions.

‘Very clever,’ he affirmed, having now become more familiar with Lance’s sing song way of speaking. ‘How about you…’ what else could he use to figure out how much she understood? ‘...point to the floor?’ he tried. She pointed downwards.

‘Point to the door?’ he asked, and she replied correctly.

‘The light?’ he tried. ‘My feet? My jacket?’ All of those were fine for her.

‘My elbow?’ he asked, and she paused. She pointed to his knees.

He showed her where his elbow was, then asked her to point to his nose, his ears, and his thumb. She managed all of those correctly, but struggled with wrist and shoulder. He would have to ask Coran, or maybe Lance, if that was standard for someone her age, although he wasn’t sure if they’d be able to answer.

Although this game, too, got boring quite quickly, Daisy had seemed to become involved, so they continued playing it until dinner.

Dinner time was a whole other fight, as lunch had been before it.

‘Please, Daisy,’ Keith pleaded for the umpteenth time as she refused to open her mouth.

‘Do you want me to try?’ Lance asked. Again. Keith bristled at how little faith the others had in him.

‘No thank you,’ he replied, through gritted teeth. ‘I’ve got this.’

It wasn't like he was completely refusing the help of the others. Hunk had tried the ‘here comes the aeroplane’ routine at lunch, and all of them had taken a turn at trying to convince Daisy to eat, but at this point Keith was sure they were all just as clueless in him. So it made sense that, as the one Daisy liked the most, he should be the one to get her to eat.

But Daisy appeared to be absolutely unwilling to eat the food goo placed in front of her. Keith couldn't say he blamed her.

‘Are you sure Galran children are able to eat this?’ Keith asked Coran. Maybe Galrans couldn't eat that type of texture. Or to them it smelled repulsive. Or what if the good was somehow toxic to them, so Daisy’s food refusal was a protective mechanism.

But Coran nodded. ‘I've seen it before.’ Vaguely, Keith wondered when Coran would have witnessed this, but his thoughts were interrupted by the older man. ‘It's highly unusual. Galrans can go longer than humans or Alteans without eating, but if she doesn't eat soon then she will start to get unwell.’

‘How long until that happens?’ Lance asked. He probably wasn't smug, Keith reasoned. Lance was a good person with many admirable qualities, and was likely just as concerned about Daisy as everyone else. But he sounded smug, and it caused Keith’s frustration to grow.

‘If you can get her to eat by this time tomorrow, everything should be fine,’ Coran said, and Keith should have been reassured, but of course his mind caught the ‘should’.

Daisy was starting to fret, her reddened face and watery eyes signs of sadness that Keith was already becoming familiar with.

‘I think we should stop before she becomes upset,’ Lance said.

_I know,_ Keith thought. He had just been about to say the same thing.

‘Keith, would you like someone else to watch her tonight?’ Shiro asked. ‘I'm sure no one would mind.’

‘I’m fine,’ Keith said. ‘I've got this.’

‘Well, if you change your mind…’ Lance offered, as Keith picked Daisy up and settled her on his hip.

For a second, the boys met eyes. It would be so easy, to accept Lance’s help. To work as a team.

But Keith didn't need that.

‘I won’t,’ he finally replied, before turning around and leaving the room.

 

_~{A}~_

‘What is it?’ Allura asked, puffing slightly. She had raced down the hall to respond to Shiro’s call for help as soon as possible.

But Shiro was standing in the doorway calmly, in casual clothes, with a relaxed expression on his face. Allura’s eyes narrowed.

‘I heard there was an emergency?’

Shiro looked sheepish. ‘Oh-I, ah, only said that to get you here.’

Allura stepped back, suspiciously, wondering if Lance had possibly conned Shiro into participating in some prank. ‘You had me worried,’ she replied crossly, while fixing up her hair.

‘Sorry.’ Shiro’s head was facing the ground, but he didn’t look that sorry at all. ‘I just needed you caught off guard, so I could surprise you.’

‘With what?’

Shiro stepped aside to reveal a pile of paper on the floor, as well as a spoon.

‘Keith and I play card games sometimes, as a catch up. I thought you might like to play with me tonight instead?’

Allura relaxed. This was a perfectly reasonable explanation that appeared to have nothing to do with food being pelted at her, and Shiro was already standing in the doorway so she wouldn’t have to live through Lance’s bucket trick again.

‘What are card games?’ she asked curiously.

‘They’re games you play with a deck of cards- her I’ll show you. Shiro picked up the piles of paper and explained to her what a deck of cards looked like, and how it was supposed to be used. ‘They usually have nice illustrations on the too, but these are handmade and I don’t have artistic ability, so…’ he rubbed the back of his head with his hand, like he often did when he was feeling shy.

Allura smiled. ‘So, what game are we playing?’

‘I thought we’d start with spoons. It’s normally better with more people, but Keith’s great at it, so if you’re going to join us regularly you’ll need a bit of a head start.’

‘Spoons?’ Allura asked. It sounded like a terrible name for a game, but she supposed it at least did something to explain the spoon in Shiro’s other hand.

Shiro explained the rules to Allura. He would pass cards to Allura, and she could choose to either keep the cards, or put them in a discard pile. She was allowed to have four cards in her hand at a time, so if she kept one that Shiro passed her she’d have to discard another one. The object of the game was to get a hand that consisted entirely of one number, at which point she could pick up the spoon. Whoever picked up the spoon first was the winner.

‘But why do we even need a spoon? Why can’t we just say ‘I win’’ or something.

‘Well, in a game with more people there are more spoons, and once the first person picks one up you can too, no matter which hand you have. You do it quietly, and the last person to notice is out.’ He paused, contemplating something. ‘I don’t know why we use a spoon though.’

Allura wasn’t entirely satisfied with the answer, but was too distracted by another question. ‘What do you mean. ‘Your hand?’ she asked.

Shiro looked down at his own hand, looking confused, then back at Allura. Then realisation dawned on his face. ‘It means the cards you have in your hand,’ he explained.

_Oh._ Allura nodded as though everything made sense now, even though everything did not make sense at all, and they began to play.

The first game went slowly. And quietly, because Allura was concentrating too hard to hold a conversation. The second and third times were no different.

The games were over much faster than Allura had imagined. She’d won the first two and only slightly lost the third, but she suspected that this was because Shiro had let her win.

Around the fourth game, Allura began getting better at keeping up with the fast slow of cards being passed to her, and by the fifth game she was able to hold a conversation while playing.

‘So, you and Keith do this a lot?’ she asked. The magic within her protested at even talking about Keith, vibrating slightly stronger, but Allura suppressed it. She might have difficulty trusting Keith, be a bit scared even, but she cared about him a lot. And that was all she wanted anyone to see.

Shiro nodded. ‘Since the Garrison. It was hard for him to open up to me for a while, so I used card games to get to know him better.’

And now he was doing the same thing to get to know her. Allura wasn’t an idiot, but Shiro clearly hadn’t tried to hide the fact. She looked up at Shiro, who was already looking over at her, ready to hold her gaze.

‘Did it work?’ she eventually asked, looking down at the cards in her hand (or just _her hand,_ apparently). She would have like if she could pay attention to the game, but since Shiro was the one controlling the cards, she didn’t have a choice but to wait. Still, she didn’t have to make eye-contact with him again. Or who knows what he might see.

‘Eventually. First he just talked to me about classwork, the little things that were stressing him out. And I think just getting them off his chest helped a lot, you know? But after a while he started talking about his home, his father, his plans for the future. And I told him stuff about me, too.’

Allura was as curious as ever, wondering what was so important about Keith’s father, what things were so important to Shiro that he hadn’t mentioned them to her yet, but this information wasn’t hers to ask for yet. ‘And you still do it now?’ she asked instead.

Shiro sighed, long and heavy. ‘Sort of. Keith does. And I try to too. But there are some things I just don’t want him to hear yet.’

Allura thought of the nightmares she sometimes had, how much she hurt sometimes, the pain of killing her father, and the way she had tried to keep it from Coran as much as possible so that he wouldn’t worry for her. She nodded.

Shiro started passing cards then, apparently feeling that the serious conversation was over. ‘He mostly complains about Lance,’ he added.

Allura laughed. ‘I can imagine that.’ They shared a brief that said that they both knew exactly what Keith was complaining about, then left the topic alone.

‘You win again,’ Shiro said, as she picked up the spoon yet another time. In the last few games Shiro had seemed to actually start trying, and the number of wins had evened out, but Shiro was still acting though she was some kind of prodigy or something. It made Allura laugh again.

‘I think we need a new game,’ she said. ‘What other ones do you and Keith play?’

‘Sometimes we play 31. Spit. Sometimes we play with some of the others and play Bullsh- Bull.’

‘Bull? Spit?’ Allura wrinkled her nose. ‘Are all card games obligated to have terrible names?’

Shiro laughed. ‘Only the best ones.’

They paused for a minute, and Allura wondered if this was her cue to go. But she didn’t want to leave, not quite yet.

Struck by inspiration, she grabbed the spoon from the ground. ‘Did you know I can balance one of these on my nose?’

Shiro raised an eyebrow. ‘Me too.’

Allura loved competition, and the card game hadn’t satisfied her. She leaned forward a bit, and lowered her voice. ‘I wonder which one of us can hold it for longer.’ Then, without waiting for a reply, she tilted her head back and placed the spoon on her nose, carefully making sure it was perfectly balanced before she let go of the handle.

For the first minute, Shiro sung Allura’s praises.

For the second minute, he started pulling faces in an attempt to get her to laugh.

By the third minute, Shiro was leaning closer to her and blowing air at her face, trying to get the spoon to fall off. About halfway through, Allura collapsed, laughing, the spoon falling from her face.

‘Two minutes, thirty-seven seconds,’ she proclaimed proudly, passing the spoon to Shiro with a teasing grin. She had never known anyone to beat her at this game.

Shiro took the spoon lazily, his face blank. ‘The thing is, Allura,’ he said ‘I have an excellent poker face.’

‘Poker face?’ she repeated, confused.

Shiro huffed out a laugh. ‘It’s from another card game.’

_That explained absolutely nothing,_ Allura thought, as Shiro placed the spoon on his nose and released the handle.

For the first minute, Allura teased Shiro.

For the second minute, she tried to pull silly faces. At first, she struggled to let go of herself, just doing little things like puffing up her cheeks, or poking out her tongue, but gradually she transitioned to real, ugly, lip-tucked-up-with-a-double-chin-and-crossed-eyes type faces, and Shiro’s face was getting redder by the second as he struggled to hold in his laughter but the spoon showed no sign of wavering.

It was the freest Allura had felt in days. Week, even, ever since the hologram of her father had been destroyed. She was laughing, and she was letting go of her self-control, and it was terrifying. But it felt so incredible. She could feel the lightness and energy bubbling up in her, as she counted down the time Shiro had left before he beat her record while goading him further.

And then something spilled over, and the spoon fell off Shiro’s nose. Just like that.

All at once Allura felt a tingling feeling throughout her body, a wave of nausea accompanied by a smaller, repulsive wave of triumph. The magic only felt like tingling, sure, but in Allura’s mind it was burning her from the inside out. Soon there would be no more of her, just another person who had been consumed by their own magic, another Haggar. With all her might she suppressed her magic once more, shoving it back down again and screwing on the jam jar lid so it’s sticky, awful contents couldn’t spill anymore.

As soon as she could move again, she turned and fled.

 

_~{K}~_

It was funny, really, how quickly Keith had fallen under Daisy’s spell. This morning, he barely knew her and, truth be told, he barely knew her tonight either. It was a bit weird, considering how distanced Keith usually kept himself from everyone but Shiro, but every time she leaned into his shoulder as he carried her, or her arms wrapped around his neck, Keith knew he was devoted to her.

Which made putting her down for the night quite hard.

Coran had moved a cot into Keith’s room, as everyone agreed that this would be where the toddler was happiest. He lowered her gently into it and let go, but she reached up and grabbed onto his arm.

He let her hold on to it, for just a minute. Or two.

Eventually, though, he pulled back again, out of Daisy’s reach. Straight away she began to sob. Not big cries of grief, or anything more than a whimper, but it was the saddest Keith had ever seen her.

‘Shhh’, he whispered, unable to keep himself from reaching out and gently stroking Daisy’s head. ‘I’m right here, ‘til you fall asleep.’

Slowly, as Keith continued whispering to Daisy, her breathing slowed. He watched he tiny chest rise and fall, and considered how fragile she was. How did he even survive to adulthood, if he was that small and vulnerable? How did anyone? There were so many things that could go wrong - someone could shake her too much, or she might have a bad allergy to something. Or maybe she could have some unknown Galra condition that would explain her strange behaviour or maybe Coran was wrong and she’d get really sick tonight from hunger.

What if one of these things happened in the night, and Keith slept through it? What if Keith woke up and found out his neglect had caused Daisy to be sick all night, or even die? What if he woke up to a dead child?

Did parents stay up all night, taking shifts to watch their young children? Keith had no idea. He didn’t think it was normal, but then, he wouldn’t have thought that making a baby burp after every time they ate was normal behaviour either, but somehow it was something that everyone did.

Maybe he would just watch Daisy for a bit longer. And then, when he felt more confident, or maybe too tired to care, he could finally go to sleep.

 


End file.
